AIDS was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening diseases called opportunistic infections. These infections are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick. HIV is spread most often through unprotected sex with an infected partner. HIV also is spread through contact with infected blood. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Barre-Sinoussi, F., et al., 1983, Science 220:868-870; Gallo, R., et al., 1984, Science 224:500-503). There are currently 1.25 million people in the US infected with HIV-induced acquired immunodeficiency syndrome according to a Center for Disease Control report. The epidemic is growing most rapidly among minority populations and is a leading killer of African-American males ages 25 to 44. According, AIDS affects nearly seven times more African Americans and three times more Hispanics than whites. In recent years, an increasing number of African-American women and children are being affected by HIV/AIDS. With over 40 million people infected worldwide, the current global HIV pandemic ranks among the greatest infectious disease scourges in human history.
There is therefore a need for the efficient identification and production of neutralizing antibodies effective against multiple clades and strains of HIV as well as the elucidation of the target and antigenic determinants to which such antibodies bind.